Birthday Wish
by Hooded-Figurine
Summary: Winry's wish has been the same every year since they left. Sister fic to song1 in Songs for FMA. Oneshot.


Winry looked at the dress that lay spread out on her bed, it was pretty enough, but she didn't feel like wearing it, not today. Something plinked against her window, and she looked out from between the curtains to see Herald Emmer waving at her. She waved halfheartedly back and turned to the dress again, pulling off her normal clothes and slipping it on. It was nothing really, just a party. But somehow it felt like heresy, as if she shouldn't be celebrating without him, even though he had never come back for her birthday before. "Winry! How long are you planning to take?"

Pinako banged on the door, and Winry quickly pulled her hair up into a ponytail. "Be out in a second Grandma!" A pair of slip-ons lay by the door, and she tugged them on before running downstairs, she should have been down three minutes ago.

**"There you are Winry! Come on outside, everybody's waiting for you." Ushered out of the house, Winry pasted on a smile as people wearing paper hats threw confetti in the air and yelled "Happy Birthday!"**

Herald snapped one of the conical hats on her head, and she pushed him lightly away. She knew he was interested in her, but she didn't return the feeling. To her, he was just an annoying pushover that liked showing off his strength. "C'mon Win! Cheer up!"

She glared at him for a moment before the movement of the crowd pulled her up to the cake, candles blazing. "Make a wish Winry." Her Grandma said at her side, looking silly in her party hat.

"Alright." Closing her eyes, she focused for an instant before blowing out the candles.

Someone tugged on her sleeve, and Winry looked down to see Elicia standing there. "You blew them all out! Now you get your wish!"

Winry smiled, tousling the younger girl's hair. "Maybe Elicia, maybe I'll get it this year." _Maybe this is the year he'll come back._

"Win!"

She turned, irritated by the nickname coming from a mouth other than her f. "What now Herald?"

He just smiled, his ego deflecting Winry's menacing glare. "I just wanted to wish the most beautiful girl in Resembool a happy birthday!"

Untouched by his flattery, Winry turned away, giving her piece of cake to Elicia. "Herald, I don't like you. Get that through your thick head or I'll use my wrench."

Her hand twitched towards the heavy, weapon-like tool that was strapped to her thigh like a gun, but Herald paid it no heed, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her back towards the house. "Well, can I at least give you a quick kiss?"

"No, Herald. I'm not interested in you. Now do I have to use my wrench or not?"

She had never given _him_ this many chances, always simply hurled the trusty piece of metal at his head when he came home with damaged limbs. "Guess you'd have to, if you had it on h-" His sentence is stopped mid-word by the wrench colliding with the side of his head, "W-where'd you get _that _from?"

Smirking, she flipped her skirt up briefly, just high and long enough to reveal the holster. "I was prepared for anything to happen." A memory flashes in front of her, and she smiles wryly. "Herald, you _do_ know that I'm not interested. Right?"

He nods frantically, "Uh-huh, uh-huh…" She smiles down at him and turns away, walking back into the crowd and heading to get a glass of the apple juice one of her neighbors had made.

"Winry, happy birthday."

"Oh, hello miss Riza! I'm so glad you could make it!"

"It was nothing, I'm glad to be here, and, thank you for inviting him."

They looked over through the crowd at where Mustang was talking with his one-time subordinate Jean Havoc. "Yes, He seems to be recovered now, thanks to you."

Riza offered up one of her rare smiles, looking at the man she still regarded as her superior, even though they were now only equals. "Yes, he is better."

"Hawkeye!" Mustang beckoned her over and she gave Winry a small wave before walking over to him, effortlessly joining the conversation.

Walking over to the wall of the house, Winry leaned against it and sipped the homemade apple juice. Then she felt someone tap her shoulder lightly, and reacted without thinking. Her wrench was aimed at the top of Herald's head, but instead of meeting close-cropped brown hair, it met thick golden bangs.

The person she struck fell over hard, hands clutching his head as he glared up at her with those fierce golden eyes she had wished to see again. "Some welcome! I come back here for the first time in forever and you smack me!"

She stared at him in shock, the wrench all but forgotten, hanging loosely in her hand. "Ed?"

She could hardly bring herself to believe it, but his reaction was perfect, getting to his feet indignantly and clenching his hands as if to begin a shouting match as Mustang chuckled in the background. "Yeah it's me!" Letting herself accept it at last, she dropped the wrench and threw her arms around his neck, resting her head at the hollow of his neck and breathing in his smell, that peculiar blend of oil and generic shampoo and something without comparison.

She felt all of his muscles tense up, until he was as rigid as a statue, a rather warm statue. As soon as she stepped back a bit and let her hands fall to her sides, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. "Here, I made you something." Being very careful, he placed a small, delicate looking metal rose in her hand and smiled at her, eyes kind. She looked back into his eyes, one thought in her head as she cradled the fragile alchemic creation in her hands. _Elicia was right, this year, my wish came true._

**

* * *

**

Reviews feed the plot bunnies and keep them away from my brain, and God knows I need to pass my finals so PLEASE REVIEW!


End file.
